The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
In general, a coupon is a certificate or other document that entitles its holder to accept an offer described or referenced by the coupon. The offer, also subsequently referred to as the “coupon offer,” may be any type of offer, but typically is an offer by the coupon provider to provide a customer with one or more goods or services at a particular price or discount. For example, a coupon might indicate $1 off or 25% off of the purchase price or might indicate a particular price, such as $10. Alternatively, the coupon offer may be an offer to provide the customer with a gift in exchange for the performance of an act, such as purchasing a good or service.
A coupon often takes a “hard copy” form, such as a paper certificate, with printed images and/or text describing terms of the offer. “Redeeming” a coupon is the process of a customer accepting a coupon offer by presenting, referencing, or otherwise providing the coupon while purchasing, contracting, or otherwise transacting with another party. For example, a customer may redeem a hard copy of a coupon by handing the copy to a clerk during a purchase at a retail store. The clerk may then provide the customer with the offered discounted price or gift.
One technique for distributing coupons is to include printed coupons with newspapers, magazines, or other items that are distributed to customers. One example of an item with which coupons are distributed is a printed receipt. For example, some retailers print receipts at a point of sale on register paper on which coupons have been pre-printed. As another example, some retailers print coupon(s) on a receipt at the time of the transaction for which the receipt is printed, thereby allowing the retailers to dynamically select which coupon(s) appear on the receipt based on the product(s) that were purchased during the transaction.
Recent distribution techniques now provide customers with opportunities to print their own coupons. For example, a number of websites provide search engines or catalogs with which customers may locate offers and then print coupons for the offers they find. The printed coupons may be used in the same manner as any other coupon.
Other recent distribution techniques involve creating digital coupons. One such technique involves creating unique digital coupons that are saved to an account associated with the customer, such as a store loyalty account. The customer may redeem such digital coupons during online or physical transactions by presenting an account identifier, such as a store loyalty card or an oral identification of the customer's telephone number, for the associated account.
Another digital coupon-based technique involves creating unique digital coupons that may be stored on a computing device. The digital coupons may be transmitted from the computing device at a point-of-sale during a transaction using any of a variety of mechanisms. Thus, there are numerous ways in which coupons might be distributed to customers.